Abstract: It is well known that not every symmetry of a classical field theory is also a symmetry of its quantum version. When this occurs, we speak of quantum anomalies. The existence of anomalies imply that some classical Noether charges are no longer conserved in the quantum theory. In this paper, we discuss a new example for quantum electromagnetic fields propagating in the presence of gravity. We argue that the symmetry under electric-magnetic duality rotations of the source-free Maxwell action is anomalous in curved spacetimes. The classical Noether charge associated with these transformations accounts for the net circular polarization or the optical helicity of the electromagnetic field. Therefore, our results describe the way the spacetime curvature changes the helicity of photons and opens the possibility of extracting information from strong gravitational fields through the observation of the polarization of photons. We also argue that the physical consequences of this anomaly can be understood in terms of the asymmetric quantum creation of photons by the gravitational field.

Abstract: We report on the discovery of a new fast radio burst (FRB), FRB 150215, with the Parkes radio telescope on 2015 February 15. The burst was detected in real time with a dispersion measure (DM) of 1105.6 +/- 0.8 pc cm(-3), a pulse duration of 2.8(-0.5)(+1.2) ms, and a measured peak flux density assuming that the burst was at beam centre of 0.7(-0.1)(+0.2) Jy. The FRB originated at a Galactic longitude and latitude of 24.66 degrees, 5.28 degrees and 25 degrees away from the Galactic Center. The burst was found to be 43 +/- 5 per cent linearly polarized with a rotation measure (RM) in the range -9 < RM < 12 rad m(-2) (95 per cent confidence level), consistent with zero. The burst was followed up with 11 telescopes to search for radio, optical, X-ray, gamma-ray and neutrino emission. Neither transient nor variable emission was found to be associated with the burst and no repeat pulses have been observed in 17.25 h of observing. The sightline to the burst is close to the Galactic plane and the observed physical properties of FRB 150215 demonstrate the existence of sight lines of anomalously low RM for a given electron column density. The Galactic RM foreground may approach a null value due to magnetic field reversals along the line of sight, a decreased total electron column density from the Milky Way, or some combination of these effects. A lower Galactic DM contribution might explain why this burst was detectable whereas previous searches at low latitude have had lower detection rates than those out of the plane.

Abstract: This paper presents an analysis of the Lambda(0)(b) -> J/psi Lambda angular distribution and the transverse production polarisation of Lambda(0)(b) baryons in proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 7, 8 and 13TeV. The measurements are performed using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.9 fb(-1), collected with the LHCb experiment. The polarisation is determined in a fiducial region of Lambda(0)(b) transverse momentum and pseudorapidity of 1 < p(T) < 20 GeV/c and 2 < eta < 5, respectively. The data are consistent with Lambda(0)(b) baryons being produced unpolarised in this region. The parity-violating asymmetry parameter of the Lambda -> p pi(-) decay is also determined from the data and its value is found to be consistent with a recent measurement by the BES III collaboration.

Abstract: The polarization of the (sic) (1S), (sic) (2S) and (sic) (3S) mesons, produced in pp collisions at centre-of-mass energies root s = 7 and 8TeV, is measured using data samples collected by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 1 and 2 fb(-1), respectively. The measurements are performed in three polarization frames, using (sic) -> μμdecays in the kinematic region of the transverse momentum p(T)((sic)) < 30 GeV/c and rapidity 2.2 < y((sic)) < 4.5. No large polarization is observed.

Abstract: The polarimeter vector field for multibody decays of a spin-half baryon is introduced as a generalisation of the baryon asymmetry parameters. Using a recent amplitude analysis of the Lambda(+)(c) -> pK(-)pi(+) decay performed at the LHCb experiment, we compute the distribution of the kinematic-dependent polarimeter vector for this process in the space of Mandelstam variables to express the polarised decay rate in a model-agnostic form. The obtained representation can facilitate polarisation measurements of the Lambda(+)(c) baryon and eases inclusion of the Lambda(+)(c)-> pK(-)pi(+) decay mode in hadronic amplitude analyses.